WHCT-TV, Channel 18 (ABC, DuMont, CBS, Independent)

Hartford, Connecticut (1954-1991)
The Colorful History Of Hartford's Most Unstable TV Station
Chapter Three - Preaching And Living The Resurrection
The Dr. Gene Scott Era & Distress Sale To Astroline



Change, however, was in the offing for Channel 18. RKO finally bailed out by '72, and gave the station to Dr. Eugene Scott and his Faith Center crew as a gift. Initially, the change was not readily apparent, as the station continued pumping out the requisite Yankee telecasts, reruns, and old flicks. The station also carried World Football League (remember that disaster?) games in 1974 and briefly televised the road games of the WHA's New England Whalers in 1977.

Dr. Gene's "Season You Can Count On" (Fall 1973) (Click Pic For Full Size)
It also included CBS' "Gunsmoke" (Which Channel 3 passed on to show its "After Dinner Movie")(Click Pic For Full Size)
"Green Acres" (Click Pic For Full Size)
Sports were still a regular staple of Channel 18's programming in the early Dr. Gene era.
New York Yankees baseball (Click pic for full size, Thanks to Stuart Cook for this picture!)
Boston Bruins hockey (Click pic for full size)
New York Rangers Hockey (Click Pic For Full Size)
New York Knicks Basketball (Click Pic For Full Size)
and PGA Golf (Click Pic For Full Size)

But the station's new direction was soon to manifest itself...(Click on pics for full size)

Eventually, Dr. Gene became the omnipresent image as the 70's faded into the '80's, just as Channel 18 faded from screens in the Hartford-New Haven- Springfield area. Channel 18's transmitter was vandalized in 1979, requiring the station to transmit as a low-power station in its final years under the good doctor. It was a dark time for Channel 18, but darker times were soon to come. To fill the independent TV breach came cable TV, offering great indy's like WSBK, WNEW, WPIX, WTBS, and 2 startups in the Hartford market; WTXX, Channel 20 in Waterbury, CT (formerly a weak NBC affiliate, WATR, renowned for "My Little Margie" reruns and Jets football), and WTIC-TV, Channel 61, soon to become a Fox affiliate.

For those of you who still need your fix of Dr. Gene Scott's hysterical and histrionic ramblings, he lives on, posthumously, here: http://www.drgenescott.com/live_internet_feed.htm

In 1985, the good Dr. Gene, feeling the IRS & FCC pinch, put Channel 18 up for "distress" sale. The FCC stipulated that the station be sold to a group of minority ownership. The FCC approved the sale to a limited partnership, "Astroline Communications", a group headed by former WMJX-FM (Boston) Sales Manager Richard Ramirez, and several backers who owned a chain of unbranded gasoline stations.

On to Chapter 4: The Astroline Era
Back to the Intro Page